Unpacking Racial Socialization: Considering Female African American Primary Caregivers' Racial Identity

The relationship between female African American primary caregivers’ racial identity and their racial socialization emphases was examined. Three components of racial identity were evaluated: (1) the importance of race to the self-concept (centrality); (2) affective feelings towards group membership (private regard); and, (3) perceptions of how group members are perceived by nonmembers (public regard). Latent class cluster analysis was used to identify racial identity profiles, or dominant combinations of racial centrality, private regard, and public regard among a sample of 208 female African American primary caregivers. Mean differences in the content of caregivers’ socialization emphases by profile group were then assessed. Findings indicated that caregivers’ with different identity profiles emphasized different messages. These findings and their implications are discussed

The Moderating Capacity of Racial Identity Between Perceived Discrimination and Psychological Well‐Being Over Time Among African American Youth

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/88122/1/j.1467-8624.2011.01651.x.pd

Exploring attachment to the "homeland" and its association with heritage culture identification

Conceptualisations of attachment to one’s nation of origin reflecting a symbolic caregiver can be found cross-culturally in literature, art, and language. Despite its prevalence, the relationship with one’s nation has not been investigated empirically in terms of an attachment theory framework. Two studies employed an attachment theory approach to investigate the construct validity of symbolic attachment to one’s nation of origin, and its association with acculturation (operationalized as heritage and mainstream culture identification). Results for Study 1 indicated a three-factor structure of nation attachment; the factors were labelled secure-preoccupied, fearful, and dismissive nation attachment. Hierarchical linear modelling was employed to control for differing cultures across participants. Secure-preoccupied nation attachment was a significant predictor of increased heritage culture identification for participants residing in their country of birth, whilst dismissive nation attachment was a significant predictor of decreased heritage culture identification for international migrants. Securepreoccupied nation attachment was also associated with higher levels of subjective-wellbeing. Study 2 further confirmed the validity of the nation attachment construct through confirmatory factor analysis; the three-factor model adequately fit the data. Similar to the results of Study 1, secure-preoccupied nation attachment was associated with increased levels of heritage culture identification and psychological well-being. Implications of the tripartite model of nation attachment for identity and well-being will be discussed

What we tell our sons and daughters: Parent -child race socialization among African American adolescents.

Historically, research on racial identity and race socialization has utilized adult samples to explore and validate theory. As identity development has been touted as being the primary task of adolescence, the study of identity development during the teen years is paramount. Similarly, as youths receive the most influential messages about race from their parents during adolescence it represents an important life phase to examine both topics. Utilizing a sample of 250 African American 11--17 year-olds, and their primary care providers, the current project explores the relationship between race socialization messages and racial identity during the teen years. Using Hierarchical Statistical Modeling, the degree to which those messages perceived by adolescents are congruent with the messages that parents report sending is also explored. The current project makes a unique contribution to the existing racial identity and race socialization literatures by nestling these topics within the context of gender. Overall, findings support the investigation of racial identity and race socialization during the teen years, as they seem to create a unique context for both the identity and socialization processes. Findings also indicate that gender moderates the identity development, race socialization, and congruence processes, thus supporting their examination within the context of gender.Ph.D.Black studiesDevelopmental psychologyPersonality psychologyPsychologySocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/123948/2/3106159.pd

A Longitudinal Examination of Racial Identity and Racial Discrimination Among African American Adolescents

This study tested the longitudinal association between perceptions of racial discrimination and racial identity among a sample of 219 African American adolescents, aged 14 to 18. Structural equation modeling was used to test relations between perceptions of racial discrimination and racial identity dimensions, namely racial centrality, private regard, and public regard at three time points. The results indicated that perceived racial discrimination at Time 1 was negatively linked to public regard at Time 2. Nested analyses using age were conducted and perceptions of racial discrimination at Time 2 were negatively linked to private regard at Time 3 among older adolescents. The findings imply that perceived racial discrimination is linked to negative views that the broader society has of African Americans